The human animal distinguishes itself from the common animal by driving cars and baking pies, sleeping in beds and slurping strawberry juliuses. The human animal keeps household pets like the sphinx cat, the chihuahua and the canary, while fearing panthers, spiders and other underminers of civilization. The human animal defines its borders with and against natural space, cutting paths through the wilderness to build homes and roads, and sprouting seeds on windowsills. Civilization makes incursions into the wild, and the wild makes incursions into civilization.

The Wild is a project that investigates ideas about animals, wilderness, nature and their intersections with humans and culture. We have questions: What do we mean when we use the word wilderness? What is animal intelligence and/or emotion to humans? Where is the porous border between civilization and nature? Why do you love Fluffy so much? Please help us answer these questions, and ask some more.

The Wild is a new print journal of literature and art. We are currently open to submissions of poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism around the theme of animals, wilderness, household pets, nature/culture, protozoa, parasites, etc. Submissions, questions and queries can be sent to the.wild.editors@gmail.com.